OCZ Vertex 3 240GB Review

Introduction:

Technology continues to evolve at a blistering pace, as it seems that what was once new, hot, and labeled the best product of its kind, is now just old news. No where is this more evident than with solid state drives. NAND controllers continue to evolve and drive performance even higher. The Vertex 3 from OCZ is one of the latest generation drives that includes not only the latest controller from Sandforce, but uses a SATA 6Gbps interface to make sure the bus in not the determining factor in drive capabilities. With its recent acquisition of Indilinx, it is surprising that OCZ chose to use the Sandforce 2281 controller. OCZ has promised this drive has some serious read and write specifications that include maximum 4K write IOPs of 85,000, maximum read performance of 550MB/s, and maximum write performance of up to 520MB/s. These numbers are significant, as they are almost twice as fast as Sandforce's previous-generation controllers. Additional specifications include native TRIM support, 25nm MLC NAND flash, ECC, S.M.A.R.T. monitoring, MTBF of 2 million hours, and OCZ's three year warranty. The Vertex 3, much like other drives, comes in a variety of sizes from 60GB to 480GB, with pricing scaling up to $1799 for the 480GB version. The 240GB Vertex 3 I am looking at today comes in at $559, which seems to be carrying a pricing premium at online retailers. As you would guess, the Vertex 3 replaces the Vertex 2 in OCZ's "Performance" lineup. Let's see how close the Vertex 3 comes to meeting the paper specifications.

Closer Look:

The front of the packaging of the OCZ Vertex 3 shows the company name and model of this drive (Vertex 3), the capacity of 240GB, and a short list of specifications, including MLC flash and a SATA III 6Gbps interface with a Sandforce controller. Also of note is the inclusion of a 2.5 inch to 3.5 inch adapter for use in chassis that do not support the 2.5 inch form factor. The rear panel gives a synopsis of why OCZ solid state drives are better than the competition, with the short list of specifications that touches on the most important performance attributes.

Inside the packaging is a cardboard-coated, dense, foam booklet that holds the Vertex 3 drive, the OCZ branded 2.5 to 3.5 inch drive adapter, screws, the manual, and a nice little case sticker that states "My SSD is Faster Than Your SSD", which actually carries some weight when you look at the performance of this drive.

The drive is packaged in traditional form, but the performance promises to be any thing but traditional. Let's take a look a little deeper into what the OCZ Vertex 3 has to offer.